Core



Nov. 19, 1968 w. l.A LAWSON ETAL 3,411,733

CORE

Filed March A14, 1967 l ,if l 1---..-

.vNu

United States Patent O CORE William L. Lawson, Forest Hills, and Venerio J. Rigolini, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignors to Whitehouse Products, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 14, 1967, Ser. No. 623,042 6 Claims. (Cl. 242-685) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A collapsible core for use for coiling continuous strands comprising a strip of stii, exible, sheet material having, at one of its ends, a slit and, at its opposite end, a tab, said tab being insertable in said slit and, when so inserted, locking said strip into a frusto-conical core for receiving, and coiling, a continuous strand.

The invention relates to a core for coiling wire, rope, twine, thread, and similar continuous strands, for shipment and storage and, more particularly, to a collapsible and disposable core for such purposes.

It has heretofore been the practice, in coiling a continuous strand, to wrap, or coil, the strand around a frusto-conical, hollow core and to ship and store the coiled strand on the core. As needed for use, the strand is uncoiled from the core. The strand may be uncoiled continuously from the core or a section of the strand may be uncoiled and severed from the strand remaining on the coil.

Once all of the strand is uncoiled, the empty core may, of course, be returned for reuse and recoiling with another continuous strand. In many instances, however, this is not practical because of the distance between the point where the strand is originally coiled and the point where the strand is uncoiled and used, and the handling and shipping costs involved in returning and reusing the core. Thus, in many instances, disposable cores are used for this purpose. After all the strand on the core has been uncoiled and removed, the disposable core is discarded.

One material that has been found to be especially suited for disposable cores is stiff, but exible, paper, or paperboard. The paper is cut into a strip of sulicient length to form a cylinder of the desired diameter and the ends of the strip are abutted and permanently joined by a metal clip to form the cylindrical core. Such paper core is then placed on an expansible mandrel and the strand is wrapped or coiled onto the core. The core, with the strand coiled thereon, is then removed from the mandrel. These paper cores require machinery to fabricate the core and attach the clip. Because of their bulk, the fabricated cores are relatively expensive to ship from the point where they are fabricated to the point where they are to be used and, where they are to be used, require a relatively large amount of storage room.

One of the objects of the instant invention is to provide an improved core for coiling wire.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a core that can be fabricated, or assembled, at the time of use.

Still a further object is to provide a core blank that is compact for shipment and storage and may be easily assembled at the point of use, without machinery.

These, and other advantages, will be apparent from the following description and attached drawings in which FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the core blank of the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is a prospective view of the core blank of FIGURE l with the blank assembled to form a core;

FIGURES 3 vand 4 are partial views of the ends of 3,411,733 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 ICC the blank of FIGURES 1 and 2 showing, progressively, the assembly of the core; and

FIGURES 5 and 6 are views similar to FIGURES 3 and 4 but showing the final steps in the assembly.

The core blank, generally indicated 2, in FIGURE 1, is cut from a sheet of stii, exible, paper, paperboard, 0r similar sheet material, in such a manner that the grain, or maximum strength, of the material extends in the direction of the arrow in FIGURE l. Sides 4, 6 of body 3 of blank 2 are arcuate and parallel, and ends 8, 10 are substantially normal to the arcs of sides `4, 6.

Slot 12, either -a slit through body 3, or a slot formed by cutting out and removing an elongated section of the body material, is positioned at one end of body 3 and extends transversely partially across body 3, substantially parallel to end 8, and spaced inwardly therefrom, with the ends 14, 16 of slot 12 spaced substantially equi-distant from edges 4, 6, respectively. Body 3, at its end 10, has a tab, generally designated 18. Tab 18 extends outwardly from end 10, in the plane of body 3, and is connected, integrately with body 3 by neck 20 having, at its end adjacent body end 10, slot 22 and, at its outer end, ears 24, 26 projecting upward and downward, respectively, from neck 20.

In assembly the core,-blank 2 is bent into a frustoconical arc and ends 8, 10, are deflected so that tab 18 at end 10 passes over the outer surface of body 2 at end 8. Ear 26 of tab 18 is inserted through slot 12 adjacent end 16 of the slot. With ends 8, 10, still deflected, tab 18 is pushed into and through slot 12 until slot 22, in tab 18, registers with slot-12. As viewed in FIGURE 3, end 10 of blank 2 is then moved downwardly and end 8 moved upwardly moving slot 22 downwardly into slot 12 until the end of slot 22 engages end 16 of slot 12.

Referring now to FIGURES 4 and 5, with the end of slot 22 in engagement with end 16 of slot 12, ends 8 and 10, of blank 2, are rotated counter clockwise, and clockwise respectively, to advance the remaining portion of tab 18 through slot 12. Ear 24 of tab 18 is advanced through slot 12 until ends 8, 10 of blank 2 are substantially parallel and end 10 of blank 2 is in engagement with the walls of slot 12. In this position, neck portion 20 extends through slot 12 with tab 18 on the inner side of the formed frusto-conical cylinder. End 10 is then moved upwardly relative to end 8, to move slot 22 out of engagement with end 16 of slot 12 and, when the outer end of slot 22 clears end wall 16, end 10 is moved outwardly, withdrawing neck portion 20 of tab 18 outwardly through slot 12 to engage ears 24, 26 with the inside wall of the formed core. Ears 24, 26 hold tab 18 in slot 12 and maintain the ends locked. When locked, ends 8, 10 may overlap or, preferably, as shown in FIG- URE 6, ends 8, 10 do not overlap but abut, or are slightly spaced Afrom each other. Thus, the abutting ends 8, 10 prevent neck portion 20 from moving back through slot 12.

Before assembly, blank 2 is iiat. It is cut from a at sheet of material and, until assembled, remains at, Thus, a number of blanks 2 may be cut from a strip of at material and piled, one on top of the other, to form a compact package for shipping and storing the blanks. At the point where cores are to be used, the blanks are assembled. Thus, as cores are needed, a blank can be taken from the stack, or supply, of at blanks, and assembled.

When assembled, the locking shoulders on the tab are on the inside of the core and protected against damage by, or interference with, the continuous strand as it is coiled onto the core. Once the continuous strand has been removed from the core and the core is empty, the tab can easily be withdrawn from the slot and the blank can be reattended for disposal. Thus, in shipping and storage before use, and disposal after use, the core of the instant invention is compact and takes up minimum space.

The terms and expressions that have been employed in the specification are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, since it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

What is claimed:

1. A core blank for use, when assembled, as a core for coiling a continuous strand for shipping and storage comprising, an oblong strip of stiff, flexible, sheet material having substantially parallel, longitudinally extending, arcuate sides and opposite ends extending at an angle substantially normal to said sides, a first slit extending through said sheet material adjacent the first of said opposite ends, and spaced from, and extending substantially parallel to, such end and a tab extending outwardly from the second of said opposite ends, said tab having a neck portion at its end adjacent said second of said opposite ends and ears at its other ending extending upwardly and downwardly in the plane of said ta-b from opposite sides of said tab, the length of said neck portion of said tab from said second of said opposite ends to said ears being not less than the spacing of said first slit from said first of said opposite ends, the width of said neck portion and the length of said first slit being substantially the same, the width of the ear portion of said tab being longer than the length of said first slit, and a second slit in said neck portion extending inwardly into one side of said neck portion at one side of said tab.

2. A core blank, as recited in claim 1, in which said sheet material is paper.

3. A core blank, as recited in claim 2, in which said sheet material is stronger in a direction transverse to said oblong strip than in a direction longitudinal of said oblong strip.

4. A core for coiling a continuous strand for shipping and storage comprising an oblong strip of stiff, flexible sheet material having substantially parallel, longitudinally extending sides and opposing ends extending at an angle substantially normal to said sides, a iirst slit extending through said sheet material at the first of said opposite ends and spaced from, and extending substantially parallel to, such end, and a tab extending outward ly in the Iplane of said sheet from the second of said opposite ends, said tab having a neck portion at its end adjacent said second of said opposite ends and ears at the opposite sides and at the other end of said tab, said strip of sheet material being bent to form a frusto-conical cylinder with said tab extending from the outer side of said strip through said first slit, said ears being on the inner side of said strip and in contact with the said inner side adjacent the ends of said first slit, said tab having a second slit in said neck portion extending inwardly into one side of said neck portion at one side thereof for interlocking engagement with said first slit when said tab is being inserted through and withdrawn from said first slit, the length of said neck portion of said tab from said second of said opposite ends to said ears being not less than the spacing of said first slit from said first of Said opposite ends, the width of the ear portion of said tab being longer than the length of said rst slit.

5. A core, as recited in claim 4, in which said sheet material is paper.

6, A core, as recited in claim 5, in which said sheet material is stronger in a direction axially of said core than in a direction transverse to said axis.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,203,453 8/1965 McConnell 242-685 X FOREIGN PATENTS 629,254 7/ 1927 France.

FRANK I. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

NATHAN L. MINTZ, Assistant Examiner. 

